At Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colorado, YMCA leaders wanted some "out of the box" thinking about recreation and play equipment that would expand the ranch's attraction for families during the spring, summer, and fall months. The result was a year round tubing slide.
Photos: Dressel-Martin MediaWorks, Inc.

The facility is one of the network sites of the YMCA of the Rockies. The quote sandblasted in the hardscape at the plaza is from Isaiah 55:12 (ESV): "For you will go out with joy And be led forth into singing, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

Landscape Architecture by Design Concepts, Lafayette, Colo.

On a high slope with spectacular views of the surrounding Rocky Mountains, Colorado's first-ever summer tubing hill opened July 15, 2014 at the YMCA of the Rockies, Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby. The summer tubing hill is the first phase of a Family Adventure Park at Snow Mountain Ranch that was designed by Design Concepts, a landscape architecture firm located in Lafayette, Colo.

Design Concepts worked with United Kingdom-based BRITON Engineering Developments Ltd., to design the tubing hill, the third in the nation. BRITON manufactures Snowflex, a polymer composite with qualities similar to a soft snow, without the cold. Misters spray water on the surface to keep it slippery. The 300-foot-long tubing hill provides a steep descent and multiple knolls. Design Concepts also designed the surrounding site and landscape features.

Design Concepts designed the new plaza at the top of the tubing hill. There is an oversized lasso, horseshoes, cowboy boots and other designs sandblasted into the Pebbleflex paving. The plaza offers space to play, picnic, line up for the tubing hill, or just relax and enjoy the tubing scene and mountain views. An adjacent parking lot provides easy access to the hill.

The firm's Family Adventure Park master plan addressed a steeply sloping 22-acre site located among the ranch's cabins and yurt villages. In recent years, the area has been clear-cut to remove beetle-killed pines, which has opening up views of the Continental Divide. The master plan provides areas and play equipment for active and passive activities in five adventure zones, connected by an accessible loop trail. Capital improvement funds paid for the tubing hill, and the rest of the project's estimated $11 million total in costs will primarily be raised through donations and some operational funds.

"Our goal was to find unique play pieces that the ranch didn't have to staff and maintain, stand-alone pieces of equipment that were unusual and wouldn't require supervision," says Shanen Weber, Design Concepts' principal in charge of the project. "We strived to create compelling adventure opportunities that focused on keeping teens and tweens interested, which is hard to do."

"I'm very pleased with Design Concepts, who guided us in creating a master plan and through the details and execution of this project, from big-picture design to how the mountain ranch character would be expressed for our guests," said Julie Watkins, vice president for association advancement for the YMCA of the Rockies. Watkins says the summer tubing hill enhances the association's mission by bringing family and friends together in wholesome, challenging and fun activities. Snow Mountain Ranch guests, which include family reunion groups, military families, and special camps, have access to the tubing hill for free, while day users pay a fee.

At the top of the slide is a 13,000-square-foot plaza with 5,000 square feet of poured-in-place Pebbleflex with mountain ranch design themes sandblasted into the surface.

of earthwork. The tubing hill is 300 feet long, with 6,000 miles of polybutylterapthelate filament to make the sliding surface. There is 12,000 square feet of synthetic turf to decelerate the tubers at the bottom of the hill.

A 200-foot "magic carpet" lift transports riders and their tubes to the top of the hill. The tubing hill is the first in a series of activity zones that will be built for the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch Family Adventure Park. Snow Mountain Ranch is popular in the winter for its Nordic ski trails and other winter attractions. The 300 pieces of "Snowflex' material is fastened down by
2,000 screws and 100,000 staples, with over 200 mist nozzles to make
the hill slippery.

Snow Mountain Ranch is preparing for Phase 2 of the project, during which the Spruce Saddle Adventure Zone will be built near the tubing hill and parking lot. The zone features multigenerational equipment, including a rock climbing wall and slide, zip line, twisted log ladder, rocks and ropes climbers, a two-person pendulum swing, and moose and saddle climbers. A picnic shelter with mountain views provides a shady place to take a break while sitting on saddle seats.

The master plan's other future areas include the Gone Gosling Giant Swing, which drops 50 feet, giving several riders a thrill as they swing through the air. The Cowboy Corral Adventure Zone provides activities for families with young children, such as a chicken-coop playhouse, digging area, and stump stage. The nature-themed Barnyard Boogie Adventure Zone, designed for ages two to 12, encourages children to explore barn ruins, climb the pine-cone climbing wall, and slide down a pine needle slide to see who can race through the hay-bale maze first. The Natural Play Adventure Zone offers trails, boardwalks and bouncing bridges.